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Review
. 2021 Dec 16;20(1):53.
doi: 10.1186/s12991-021-00373-z.

Anaclitic-sociotropic and introjective-autonomic personality dimensions and depressive symptoms: a systematic review

Angelica Marfoli  1 , Federica Viglia  1 , Micaela Di Consiglio  1 , Sheila Merola  1 , Stefano Sdoia  1 , Alessandro Couyoumdjian  2
Affiliations
Review

Anaclitic-sociotropic and introjective-autonomic personality dimensions and depressive symptoms: a systematic review

Angelica Marfoli et al. Ann Gen Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Sociotropy (anaclitic) and autonomy (introjective) are conceptualised as two personality dimensions that confer vulnerability to depression. According to Blatt and Beck's theories, sociotropic individuals exhibit distinctive patterns of symptoms such as prominent anxiety, depressed mood, helplessness, crying and somatic concerns, while self-critical ones seem to exhibit a pattern of symptoms including prominent guilt, hopelessness, feelings of failure and worthlessness and other cognitive symptoms.This systematic review was performed with the aim of investigating whether and to what extent psychological dimensions of anaclitic-sociotropic and introjective-autonomy are related to a specific core of depressive symptoms. The search was conducted in three databases (PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus) and 27 articles were selected.Results showed a weak association between somatic symptoms and dependent personality traits, while the relationship between self-criticism and cognitive symptomatology was significantly higher. These findings are discussed in the context of future research, necessary to corroborate the existence of a form of depression characterised by somatic features usually ignored by diagnostic criteria, essential to direct psychological treatments to these depressive personality differences.

Keywords: Autonomic personality; Complicated grief; Depression; Depressive symptoms; Psychological dimensions; Sociotropic personality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA2020 flow diagram for new systematic reviews
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Tests measuring depressive symptoms, complicated grief, and personality dimensions. 2. 1 SS (Somatic Symptoms): loss of pleasure, crying, agitation, loss of interest, loss of energy, changes in sleeping, irritability, changes in appetite, concentration difficulty, tiredness or fatigue, loss of interest in sex, interpersonal sensitivity. CG (Cognitive Symptoms): such as sadness, pessimism, past failure, guilty feelings, punishment feelings, self-dislike, self-criticalness, indecisiveness, worthlessness, self-blame, work difficulty, social withdrawal, hopelessness. Ang: Anger; Sh: Shame; Lo: Loneliness; An: Anhedonia; In: Insomnia; SI: Suicidal Ideation. Coloured circles indicate that the scale measures a cluster of symptoms. Empty circles indicate that the scale measures only the symptom of interest). 2. 2 Tests measuring personality dimensions and complicated grief. PD (Personality dimensions); CG (complicated Grief)
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